1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 29, 12:30 PM CST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 130 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002 .OVERVIEW...LATE SPRING PATTERN IN EVIDENCE WITH WEAKER SFC AND UPPER FLOW ACROSS AREA. BROAD UPPER TROUGH ACROSS CENTRL US SUPPLYING SOME UPPER LEVEL INSTABILITY AND ALSO WEAK EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES. LATEST SFC/RADAR SUGGEST STORM NOW DEVELOPING IN PAST HOUR IN EASTERN IOWA WITH SFC ANALYSIS SHOWING DECENT INFLOW AND MORE UNSTABLE AIR THAN PROGGED FOR CONTINUED INTENSIFICATION. ...TIMING AMOUNT AND POTENTIAL SVR NATURE OF STORMS THIS PM AND THEN MORE SIGNIFICANT STORM POTENTIAL LATER THIS WEEKEND FORECAST ISSUE... .DIAGNOSIS AND DAYS 1-3...CURRENT CONVECTION POTENTIAL AND INTENSITY UNDERDONE BY ALL MODELS WITH HIGHER INSTABILITY AND GREATER INFLOW TOWARD BROAD BOUNDARY IN FAR WEST CWFA AT 18Z PER LAPS/MSAS. DVN SVR CHKLST AND BLEP TECHNIQUE SUPPORTS ISOLATED TO WDLY SCT PULSE SVR POTENTIAL WITH SOME HAIL AND OUTFLOW DOMINATED WINDS OF UP TO 45 KTS UP TO NEAR 60-65 KTS WITH OUTFLOW INTERACTION AND SOME ROTATION INTO THIS EVENING. MIAN THREAT IS WEAK FLOW...SUGGESTING SLOW MOVING STORMS WITH PW OF 1.40+ FOR HEAVY RAIN CREATING SOME FLOODING CONCERNS. THUS... BLENDING NOWCAST TOOLS WITH ETA...WILL TEND TOWARD HIGH SIDE OF POPS TONIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 30 THIS EVENING INTO TONIGHT. THEN TEMPS NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE ON HIGH SIDE OF MAV/FWC BLEND WITH CHANCE POPS THURSDAY PM AND EVENING WITH WEAK FRONT. APPEARS MAINLY DRY FRIDAY WITH SOME DRIER AIR THEN LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY AS FRONT SLIDES BACK NORTH FOR A PATTERN SUGGESTIVE OF A FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR LARGE CONVECTIVE MCS/MCC WITH INSTABILITY APPROACHING EXTREME LEVELS AND SHEAR PROFILE CONDUCIVE FOR DERECHO AND/OR INTENSE BOW ECHO EVOLUTION. KEEP HIGH CHANCE POPS SATURDAY FOR NOW DUE TO TIMING AND LOCATION OF UNCERTAINTIES. LOOK LIKE NEAR RECORD COOL PERIOD AT AN END. .EXTENDED (SUN-TUE)...ALL MODELS SUGGEST E-W BOUNDARY OVER TO JUST SOUTH OF AREA INTO TUESDAY FOR KEEPING REASONABLE CHANCE POPS THRU PERIOD. PATTERN IS FAVORABLE FOR HEAVY RAINS WITH SEVERE RISKS...AT LEAST AT TO ABOVE CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMAL. CLOUD COVER WILL HAVE GREAT IMPACTS ON TEMPS AND WILL PLAN TO TRY AND INCORPORATE INTO MEX/FMR GUIDANCE. .DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. NICHOLS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water covered portions of 180th Street east of Sigourney and had to be barricaded. Agricultural flooding was also observed west of Sigourney on Highway 92.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, May 2002
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5297853.